1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an apparatus for practicing ice hockey, and more particularly to a hockey practice alley for developing and improving the skills of a hockey player.
2. Description of the Related Art
The development of hockey skills for the average ice hockey player is often haphazard and inadequate. Ideally, the development of hockey skills should include isolating individual weaknesses and taking remedial action in the form of practice, preferably under conditions comparable to actual regulation ice hockey play.
In the past, the practice of ice hockey has taken place in several different and distinct environments. One environment is inside an enclosed building which utilizes a controlled system for maintaining a large iced surface, such as a conventional ice hockey rink. Another environment is outside within the natural elements, such as a lake or pond which has frozen over. Still another environment is a substantially flat iceless surface such as concrete, asphalt, wood, linoleum and the like. There exists many disadvantages to the use of these types of environments for isolating individual weaknesses and taking remedial action in the form of practice.
The use of a controlled environment facility, such as a regulation size ice hockey rink, for practicing ice hockey is ideal for simulating real hockey game conditions. However, the use of such a facility is impractical for the average, non-professional hockey player.
One obvious reason why such an environment is impractical is that its use involves a relatively large building with very expensive equipment to form the ice and maintain it in the appropriate iced condition. Additionally, individual practice is often precluded because a player can tie up a substantial area of the ice hockey rink attempting to diagnose and correct a particular shortcoming. The simultaneous use of an ice hockey rink by a group of hockey players can also lead to unsafe practicing conditions. As a result, the use of a controlled environment for isolating individual weaknesses and taking remedial action in the form of hockey practice is not an acceptable alternative.
This leads some potential hockey players outdoors to natural areas of large ice deposits, such as lakes and ponds. The use of this type of environment for practicing hockey is also problematic. In addition to being unavailable to a significant population of potential hockey players who reside in climatically more temperate areas, natural ice deposits are typically seasonal. Consequently, individual players are projected into competitive games before their skills have been fully developed through adequate practice. Most often, the playing season is over before the individual player has had sufficient practice to reach his peak proficiency.
Finally, due to the unavailability of the prior environments in which to practice hockey, many would be hockey players migrate to common flat iceless surfaces such as concrete, asphalt, wood, linoleum and the like. Because these surfaces tend to be too rough for the use of conventional regulation hockey equipment, specialized equipment must be substituted. For example, pucks formed of resistive polyethylene rather than conventional hard vulcanized rubber are used. Unfortunately, the use of substituted non-regulation equipment significantly alters and distinguishes hockey practice from regulation hockey game conditions. Consequently, an apparatus for isolating individual weaknesses and taking remedial action in the form of practice in conditions comparable to regulation ice hockey play remains undeveloped.